Conventional electronic collar-mounted emitters/receivers, automatic electronic stimulators, etc., provide remote/leash-free access to animals using communication via sound, vibration, and/or electronic/high voltage stimulation at varying levels. Examples of these devices include remote animal-training collars, anti-bark collars, containment collars, hunting collars for dogs that provide GPS/radio transmission, etc.
Overall such animal training devices incorporate modern electronics with circuitry and transformers which are generally useful to adjust the required voltage, for example when stimulating the animal by bipolar contact points affixed directly onto the skin of the animal.
The collar-mounted receivers/transmitters or electronically controlled collars presently available are often encased in a hard box-shaped or flexible plastic housing with some sort of loop or tab of plastic or metal to thread the collar through for attachment purposes.
The collar on which the electronics are mounted is normally used on the neck of an animal, but the scope of the invention is not limited to use on the neck only. Often the receivers are threaded through a strap which goes around the waist, chest, or other part of the animal.
The components in a conventional receiver such as battery, printed circuit board (PCB) or transformer can be stacked vertically to reduce surface area on the animal's neck. Such a bulky device with two fixed contact points placed side by side involves certain drawbacks.
Firstly, gravity constantly pulls the box to its lowest position. This affects the effectiveness of the contact, because it either becomes loose, or pushes on the larynx of the dog, leading to discomfort. Moreover, as the housing has a propensity to always fall to the same spot on the animal's body, there is often a rubbing that leads to necrosis, i.e. a blistering of the skin from constant friction at the same spot.
Secondly, due to the horizontal fixed nature of the contacts, large bulky housing containing animal collar receivers are difficult to use on small dogs. The large inflexible box does not wrap well around small necks, and this makes proper contact difficult.
Additionally, there is minimal or no ability to customize output of the receiver. Stimulus levels are often factory set on present day electronic animal collar-mounted receivers. For example, if level two is too low and level three is too strong, there is not much scope to adjust the level to something in between that can be customized for a particular animal.
Thirdly, bulky receiver designs are aesthetically compromising, and often lead to unwanted interrogation/curiosity, which may interfere with the psychological dynamics between the animal and the animal handler/owner, and/or between the handler/owner and other human beings, e.g. spectators.
Having in view the need for a better design of receiver to address the known problems discussed above, the Applicant already obtained a patent granted (U.S. Pat. No. 8,783,212 B2) for an electronic collar that can be used on an animal to provide remote communications and/or automatic electronic reaction in response to a stimulus, such as vibration, sound, high voltage (HV), etc. The related design provides structural and functional set up for collar-mounted electronics that are easier to customize, avoid a common problematic medical issue (necrosis), are lighter in weight, and more discreet in structure, resulting in optical, functional and psychological advantages over solutions previously available in the market.
This invention attains performance improvements by, among other things, diminishing the bulk of the electronics, providing more physical comfort to the animal by conforming to the natural shape of the animal's body and/or by flexibly adjusting contact points. At the same time, the design addresses aesthetic and psychological issues involved in animal handling.
This design also opens up the possibility of using multiple contact points on each side of the electronics to deliver distributed signal rather than sending the entire signal through just two (one positive and one negative) contact points. The multiple contact points' advantage is harnessed in the design of extendors, as described in greater detail below.
The above patent addresses the problem of providing a flexible structure for the collar-mounted receiver that is more comfortable for the animal that is wearing it. For example, a rubbery flexible molding used for products, commercially known as “Chameleon®”, marketed by Bart Bellon's company “BCBB” via Dogsport.be, a company based in Belgium, is used in the embodiments of the patent to hold the electronics in a comfortable location on the animal's body. The material used for the molding may be a flexible polymer such as a polyamide. The battery and the electronics of the receiver (on a printed circuit board or integrated circuit chip) are placed next to each other instead of being stacked vertically, so the external shape and the look of the collar remains thin and sleek. Yet another aspect of the patent is to achieve flexibility of positioning of the contact points that deliver electronic signals to the animal. This enhances physical comfort and can be utilized more effectively for the animal's behavioral monitoring/training purposes. The patent makes it possible to easily move or change the number of contact points to customize response and to eliminate habitual rubbing leading to necrosis. Unlike other collars available in the market, contacts can be affixed vertically or in any other spatial arrangements, and the number of contacts can be varied too. Specially designed “extendors” may be used to beneficially use the effects of gravity, where the electronics are pulled to the lowest point and the contacts consequently are pulled closer to the sides of the neck, when an animal wears the collar-mounted receiver of the invention.
Specially designed “extendors” may be used to beneficially use the effects of gravity, where the electronics are pulled to the lowest point and the contacts consequently are pulled closer to the sides of the neck, when an animal wears the collar-mounted receiver of the present invention. The extendors may be sold separately (i.e. apart from the Chameleon®) and can be worn as a “dummy” Chameleon® collar or they may be used in conjunction with a variety of brands of electronic collars to utilize the benefits of using the effects of gravity where the electronics are pulled to the lowest point and the contacts consequently are pulled closer to the sides of the neck. Additionally, the feature of moving contact points (or changing their positioning) to customize response and/or to eliminate habitual rubbing leading to necrosis can be added to any brand name receiver due to the purchase of extendors which will be sold separately as an accessory and which fit over the manufacturer contact points and thus providing all the functionalities of the extendors that come as a factory setting on the Chameleon® collar receiver.
Moreover, the sleek, inconspicuous design of this invention is suitable for being integrated with a flat collar, so there is no unseemly “box” visible to attract unwanted attention. Overall the collar (and the receiver integument) is optimized for comfort, durability, functionality and aesthetics.
Moreover, document DE 20 2004 011 942 U1 discloses a collar for animals, especially dogs, with contact surfaces and a control and switching means, wherein at least one sensor is arranged for moisture detection. An evaluation unit is provided. The evaluation unit as well as the control and switching means are directly arranged to the collar.